Continuous bag system



July 16, 1968 J, G ET AL CONTINUOUS BAG SYSTEM 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Jan. 26, 1966 FIE! E V V V N lll'llllllull lllllullllill f A J: l Q M i u i n T A n INVENTOR. WIAIYIA'O) Azania! Jaw/v 4. 64: BY

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July 16, 1968 J, GALE ET AL.

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July 16, 1968 GALE ET AL CONTINUOUS BAG SYSTEM 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed Jan. 26, 1966 .M W m 0 T 2 N a w NJ. I 1 a United States Patent 3,392,825 CONTINUOUS BAG SYSTEM John A. Gale and Winthrop A. Eastman, Wayzata, Minn, assignors to John A. Gale Company, Minneapolis, Minn., a corporation of Minnesota Filed Jan. 26, 1966, Ser. No. 523,137 8 Claims. (Cl. 20647) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE This invention relates to a continuous bag system provided from a continuous plastic tubular section wherein the tubular section includes a folding process with means provided between adjacent bags to permit separation of one bag from the continuous line of bags provided and wherein the folding process includes a pleating arrangement to pleat transversely of the continuous section to provide a compact bag section to be housed within an integrated container for the bags.

In the past various continuous bag systems have been provided out of plastic tubings such as polyethylene tubing and the like but most of these bag systems, in order to provide a continuous function were provided in the form of rolls such as obtained by rolling a continuous poly strip of preformed bags about a fiber core. The usage of this type of continuous bag system was of course limited in the fact that the roll core required a rotational movement for proper functioning and therefore required a proper support for the roll core. This could of course require a support member for the roll or in the alternative the entire roll could be held within a container such as a box with the roll being free to rotate within the box. Naturally whichever of these roll systems was used the incorporation of the fiber core demanded a certain amount of useable room within the center of the rolled unit and thus did not allow as compact a package as provided herein.

The device as provided herein includes a primary package having a plurality of pleated folded polyethylene or plastic bags contained therein which upon removal of one of the bags will result in a continuous self following flow pattern for the remainder of the bags. The inclusion of the accordion or pleated bags allows a maximum number of such bags to be contained within a given storage volume for what is known as a maximum density package and the useage of the storage volume provides a package unit which will be substantially minimal in area so as to afford certain useability heretofore unobtainable with the roll type bags.

The product as provided by applicant in this particular application primarily includes the incorporation of a pleated or accordion folded plastic bag into a compact container unit which willpermit the removal of single bags. One use for such a container and bag system would be for lining a waste container or the like by placing the container unit on the bottom of the waste basket and pulling the bags upwardly as they are required. Continuing this same concept the container unit could be incorporated into a foldable housing wherein the bag section would be fixedly attached to one foldable portion thereof and upon unfolding the container unit would supply the necessary rigidity to the housing thus providing, when the bags are pulled upwardly into the housing, a fillable unit.

It is therefore an object of applicants invention to provide a container unit for removably storing a plurality of accordion folded plastic bags therein and arranged to permit singular rem-oval of the bags.

It is a further object of applicants invention to pro 3,392,825 Patented July 16, 1968 vide a fold-able container structure including a bag containing portion which in folded position will present a substantially fiat unit and in open position will present an open top container member wherein bags will be provided for upward removal from the bag storage section.

It is a further object of applicants invention to provide a container system for accordion folded plastic bags wherein each of the bags may be supplied with tying means on the normally open end thereof.

These and other objects and advantages of our invention will more fully appear from the following description made in connection with the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference characters refer to the same or similar parts throughout the several views, and in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view illustrating a fillable container embodying the concepts of applicants invention;

FIG. 2 is a vertical section taken substantially along line 22 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a front elevation view of the container in a folded position for use as display on a sales rack;

FIG. 4 is a vertical horizontal section taken substantially along line 44 of FIG. 3 particularly illustrating in dotted line formation the opening aspects of the foldable container;

FIG. 5 is a side elevation taken from FIG. 3;

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the container embodiment of this invention shown as it would normally be swung into open position;

FIG. 7 is a front view similar to FIG. 6 showing the bag portion swung into a vertical position;

FIG. 8 is a side view similar to FIG. 7 showing the side flaps of the container swung into open position;

FIG. 9 is a front elevation of the continuous bag structure before folding which includes a self tying and sealing member on the upper portion of the bags;

FIG. 10 is a horizontal section taken substantially along line 1010 of FIG. 9;

FIG. 11 is a schematic illustration of a continuous accordion folded bag in relation to the storage container; and

FIG. 12 is a schematic illustration of an accordion folded bag wherein individual bags are integrally folded to provide a pop up or continuous drag along system.

In a preferred form which illustrates one particular use for a bag system embodying the concepts of applicants invention as illustrated in FIG. 1 the bag portion designated 10 is shown within a foldable container unit 11. The container 11 has a front panel 12, a pair of side panels 13-14 and a rear panel 15. The upstanding side panels 1344, rear and front panels 11-12 in open position provide support for a bag 10 arranged interiorly thereof and which bag 10 in common useage would have its uppermost open end 16 arranged in overlying relation about the open end of the support box 11 such that the bag 10 would be supported and held in open position thereby.

The bag storage section designated 20 in the form shown consists of a bottom connecting section 21 integral with the back panel 15 such that said bottom 21 and carried storage section 20 may be folded about a rear corner 21a into two positions as best seen in FIGS. 2 and 5. This bottom panel portion 20 extends about and is con nected to front panel 12 by providing an extending tab portion 22 integral with said bottom portion 21 having a plurality of tab sections 22a arranged on the extendingmost end thereof. These tabs 22a in useage will be received into slots 12a on the front panel 12. Tabs 22a will be capture type tabs having a slotted, partially separated trapezoidal connecting element at the outermost ends thereof which elements will be received into the receiving slots 12a to securely hold the storage or packet section 29 within the area defined by the panels in open position.

The packet section 24 includes a box or container portion having sides 2323, a top 24 which top is provided with an opening 24a therein such that the bags 10. may be pulled from the box 20. This top opening 24a may be closed with a perforated joined lid section 24b which until the time of useage will securely hold the bags 10 within the container section 26. The packet section 20 is securely attached to the bottonnnost flap 21 such that a four sided container member is provided on the unit. End sections 25 will of necessity be provided to substantially form a complete enclosure for the packet section 20.

In the form shown the entire unit will be provided in a foldable form for display purposes such as that illustrated in FIGS. 3, 4 and which discloses the packet section 20 as being securely held against the foldable carton type unit consisting of side panels l314 and front and rear panels 12-15 of the carton. The opening features of such a carton are illustrated particularly in FIG. 4 wherein the front panel 12 underlies side panel 13 and is integral with side panel 14 such that panel 14 and one half of front panel 12 lies adjacent back panel 15. In opening such a container it is only necessary to open the side 13 as illustrated in FIG. 4 swinging the same in its dotted arc position to be substantially perpendicular to the back panel 15. At this point the other side panel 14 is swung into open position substantially perpendicular to the rear panel 15 and the front panel will obtain a position parallel to and spaced apart from the back panel 11. In the folded position a crease 12b is formed substantially along the centermost portion of front panel 12 and this particular configuration allows a tightly closed situation for display purposes as illustrated in the side view of FIG. 5.

As shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 the bag containing packet 20 of the unit is in storage position, folded upwardly against the back panel 15 and may be held thereto by the use of adhesives or the like. The entire folded unit is substantially flat and will therefore be easily accommodated for display. For display purposes an aperture 15a may be formed through the uppermost portion of said back panel.

In use the front and side panels would be opened as illustrated in FIG. 4 and the container packet would be swung from its folder portion as illustrated by the arrow in FIG. 5 to be received upwardly into a longitudinal passage, defined by the various panels. This similar folding operation is illustrated in FIG. 6.

The entire unit as heretofore described then includes a compact display portion which is substantially flat in nature but which may be folded to provide a substantial bag support housing defined by the upstanding sides 13-14 and front and back panel 1512. This housing would not necessarily be self supporting unless the packet 20 were not positioned therein to properly hold the panels in proper relation.

The form of the bags provided with the packet 20 is illustrated in FIGS. 9, 11 and 12 which shows the bag section to be formed of a continuous tubular section of plastic such as polyethylene or the like and by providing sealed portions 10a extending transversely thereacross a closed end is obtained. Likewise by providing perforate sections 1% directly below the sealing portions 10a a means for tearing one bag from another is provided. In this manner a continuous length of separable bags is provided.

As illustrated in FIGS. 11 and 12 these bags may be packed within the bag packets 20 in several manners to provide the continuity of use attainable with this device. As illustrated in FIG. 11 it would be possible to accordion pleat the bags 10 within packet 2% such that a substantially compact bag storage section is provided and wherein the bags would unfold in self following order. As shown in FIG. 12 an interlocked accordion fold could also be provided where one complete bag designated for these purposes 40 would have at least a portion thereof interlocked with the next complete bag 41 such that upon pulling the uppermost of such bags from the pack 20 the topmost portion of the next bag 41 would likewise be pulled from the packet 29.

As illustrated in FIGS. 9 and 10 an additional feature is available for incorporation onto the individual bags and this is a closure element designated 42. This closure element 42 combines several features to facilitate the manufacturing of this device onto a series of bag members. A polyethylene or similar plastic type band portion 43 would be provided which could be glued or otherwise sealed to the bags 10 near the uppermost ends thereof and this strip 43 would be provided with a plastic coated metal tie section 44 likewise sealed to the tag section 43 which would be of suflicient length to extend substantially transversely across the bag Width. In use these tag or tie members 42 would be spaced near the top of the bags and would permit sealing of the open end thereof when the bag has been filled. This particular tie feature would add to the useage of such a packet in that it would be possible to eifectively seal the bags to positively retain the contents therein after use.

The system as devised herein has been and has included a certain supporting feature for the individual bags for use during the filling process. It should be obvious that the packet system alone may be used individually either with or without the tie portion as illustrated in FIG. 10. Useage of the individual packets of course would be substantially the same as any other packet type box in which the bags would be removed therefrom when required but the storage of the bags would be facilitated due to the compactness of the storage unit. This individual packet unit could be used for example as a waste container system with the packet inserted into the bottom of an available wastebasket container with the size of the bags being such that the open end thereof would be freely placeable about the open periphery of the wastebasket or the like. The individual packets of course could be used as litter bags or in any other situation which would require a supply of such bagging material.

It should be obvious that applicants have provided a new and unique packet arrangement for storing a multiplicity of polyethylene or plastic bags or the like wherein the particular package is conveniently small and compact and wherein the packet may be associated with a folding display and holder portion which holder portion may be unfolded to provide a support unit for the individual bags during filling thereof.

It will, of course, be understood that various changes may be made in the form, details, arrangements and proportion of parts without departing from the scope of my invention, which generally stated consists in the matter set forth in the appended claims.

What We claim is:

1. An article of manufacture including:

(a) a container unit arranged for releasably holding an article therewithin; and

(b) a plurality of bag units provided within said container to provide a self following supply of bags, said supply including a continuous t-ubular section having transverse sealed portions to form a bag closure on one end thereof and said tubular section being disconnectably connected adjacent said seal portions for separation of an adjacent bag, said supply being arranged within said container in accordion-fold relation whereby 'a substantially compact container is provided.

2. The structure set forth in claim 1 wherein said bag units are provided from a 'plastic material.

3. The structure set forth in claim 1 wherein the disconnectable connection includes a perforate portion arranged at selected areas of each bag.

4. The structure set forth in claim 1 and a closure element arranged on each of said bags to permit closing of the normally open end thereof.

5. An article of manufacture including:

(a) a foldable unit having at least a front panel, a rear panel and side panels foldably arranged with respect to one another to permit shifting from a substantially planar compact configuration to a spaced apart configuration defining a longitudinally extending passage;

(b) a container unit attached to one of said panels and arranged to be received within said passage to contact each of the other said panels to positively position said panels to provide a stable passage;

(c) said passage being of a size to receive said container therein to provide a stable passage configuration and prevent folding of such housing; and

((1) said container provided with a plurality of bag units therein.

6. The structure set forth in claim 5 and said container being arranged within said passage to permit removal of said bag units upwardly therethrough.

7. The structure set forth in claim 5 and one of said panels having a foldable extension thereon for mounting said container to permit shifting the same from a first folded position to a second position within said passage.

8. The structure set forth in claim 7 and said foldable extension having at least one locking tab on the outermost end thereof, said opposite p anel having tab receiving openings to permit locking of said container within said passage.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,332,637 10/ 1943 Heywood 229-69 2,725,141 11/1955 Latval-a et al 220-6S XR 2,792,107 5/ 1957 Barnes et al 206-7 3,172,563 3/ 1965 Harwood 20657 3,300,082 1/ 1967 Patterson 220-65 THERON E. CONDON, Primary Examiner.

GEORGE T. HALL, Assistant Examiner. 

